


Calm, Normal, Worthy

by ChokolatteJedi



Category: Supernatural
Genre: College, Gen, Pre-Canon, flashfic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-07-19
Updated: 2009-07-19
Packaged: 2017-10-08 18:10:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 541
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/78166
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChokolatteJedi/pseuds/ChokolatteJedi
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A short little snippet from before Sammy went to Stanford.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Calm, Normal, Worthy

Sam resisted the urge to slouch in his chair as he waited for the man behind the desk to finish reading. As odd as it sounded, Sam felt practically defenseless without a weapon of some sort on his person, and he had to stop himself from eyeing the very probably silver letter opener on Daniel Maylson's desk.

Maylson cleared his throat and Sam immediately snapped to attention. "Alright Sam, I have a few questions for you about your application."

"Yes, sir." Sam replied obediently. He had known this was coming. He had practiced what to say over and over in front of a mirror until he could do it flawlessly. _Calm, normal, worthy_ was his mantra.

"Your SAT scores are remarkably high, but I'm not seeing a listing of you current high school or of the one that awarded you your diploma."

"No, sir."

"Would you care to explain?" The man asked calmly.

Sam nodded. "My father moves around a lot, trying to find work. My brother and I never spent enough time in a high school to ever get a quarterly grade, let alone a diploma. I have scheduled a time to take my High School Equivalency exam, though." Sam's inflection was perfect, at least to his own ears. Not a hint of self-pity, no anger towards his father, just a simple statement of how his life worked. _Calm, normal, worthy_. And now a hint of well-adjusted amusement. "On the positive side, I don't get carsick, so I had a lot of time to study." The fact that he was studying Albanian Banishing Rituals more often than Calculus didn't need to be mentioned.

"I see." Maylson looked back down at Sam's file and flipped the page. Sam had to give him credit - the man gave as little emotion away as he did. "May I ask what kind of work your father was looking for?"

"Odd jobs," Sam replied quickly. "He had been a hunter and Jack-of-all-Trades kind of man, and after our mother died, he just couldn't seem to settle down in one spot. Grief, or seeking retribution, Dean and I don't know. He took good care of us, though." Well, Dean took good care of Sam. John Winchester provided the fraudulent credit cards and _hunter_ education.

"I understand what you mean." Maylson replied passively, again revealing nothing of his actual feelings. He closed the manila file folder on the desk and leaned forwards, clasping his hands in front of him.

Sam allowed himself a mental groan. This was the question he had known was coming - the one he had failed at so often while practicing. The one that would determine how he spent the rest of his life.

"So what makes you think you're the kind of student that Stanford is looking for?" Maylson asked politely.

Sam took a deep breath before replying, repeating his personal instructions over and over in his head. _Calm, normal, worthy_. "I'm honestly not sure that I'm the kind of student that Stanford needs," he began, head down. _Calm, normal worthy_. Sam raised his head and looked the older man strait in the eye, allowing some of the emotion bottled up inside to show through, "but I'm the kind of student who needs Stanford."


End file.
